Viewer: Compare images with pan offset and different zoom

[lbo]

Hi,

please tell me an efficient way to compare images with different center position and/or different FOV.

In FastStone Image Viewer (FSIV), I select 2..4 images and hit "P". Then I can show images either "side by side" or "full screen" (using Alt-1 ... Alt-4 to toggle quickly).

In both views, I can set pan and zoom individually for each image (holding Ctrl) or synced for all images. A normal ("synced") zoom keeps the zoom ratio set previoulsy.

The "quick toggle between full screen images" is extremely helpful to rate the image quality. If you first adjust the displayed area, you can see tiny differences as well as you can get the whole impression.

How can I do such comparisons in IMatch?

I couldn't figure out how to set individual pan or zoom in full screen display. All zoom/pan changes seem to be global.

In multi-window view, I tried "not linked" to match the view, but switching back to "linked" seems to reset any position/pan offset and zoom ratio made during "unlinked" operation.

Of course, I can continue using FSIV, but switching to FSIV and porting back the information about the "best" image to IMatch is error-prone.

Oliver

[Mario]

Select the files and open the Viewer. The Viewer can display up to 8 files in parallel, with separate or synchronized zoom/pan.
If you are unaware of this, I recommend reading the corresponding sections in the The Viewer help topic.

[lbo]

you didn't read my whole posting, did you?

I used some effort to present the issue concisely. I'm not sure whether a second attempt to explain it will be easier to understand.

[Mario]

I did read your post, but I have never used FastStone so I cannot comment on that.
All options available in the Viewer for panning and zooming are explained in the help topic I linked to. If what you want is not documented there, it does not exist in IMatch.

[sinus]

To be honest, I did not fully understand, what lbo described.
I use the IMatch-Viewer often, but I use for sure not the whole power of it, since I use it mostly for compare two images or to choose from several images.
For more possibilities I would have to read the help.

See my attachement-short-video, how I compare images, more I do not know.*
*
Upload was too big.
I uploaded it therefore to Google drive, I have never done this, I hope, I did it right, here is the link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10T3xpUDspLeNJL0A3U5o5VwbmYPg-rw0/view?usp=sharing

PS
I ought to lern, where is best to upload, Google, Microsoft, security and so on

[lbo]

I try explain better.

Two scenarios:

1. Consider a set of high res group photos taken wit ::)h (slightly) different focal length and/or with a different center position.

The challenge is to find the pictures with as few stupid faces as possible. You want to compare all faces in detail (100% zoom or larger) side by side.

If you use the IMatch viewer in "linked" operation, you don't see the same faces in all windows because they are in slightly different areas (remember, you panned the camera slightly between shots or changed focal length).

If you use the IMatch viewer "not linked", you have to pan all windows individually, that's rather inefficient.

With FSIV, you can fine tune zoom and pan in each window individually (holding Ctrl), and still do a synced pan or zoom (without ctrl). It's so intuitive and efficient that you don't need to think about it.

2. You want to compare several images in full screen mode, not side by side.

Toggling between candidates reveals subtle differences and enables you to decide about the best one.

You want to be able to quickly switch between arbitrary images of a set, e.g. start with A-B-C-D, continue with A-C, like C more, continue with B-C comparison, keep B, compare B-D. Toggling between images with a single keystroke is very useful for this kind of comparison.

Full screen comparison doesn't necessarily mean that you display the whole image. It can be very useful to compare only a portion of the image, e.g. at 100% zoom.

But then you have to adjust the displayed area again as in example 1.

If you are a pixel peeker familiar with the FastStone Image Viewer, you will not want to miss these features.

Well, no problem to stay with FSIV. I just wanted to know whether I missed the "best practice" to use the IMatch viewer.

[Mario]

IMatch has no such functionality. You can either pan/zoom all windows or pan/zoom individual windows.
It assume it is no problem to open images in FastStone directly from IMatch by pressing Ctrl+Enter or via a Favorite. So you have the best of both worlds already.

As far as I recall, nobody has ever request such a special functionality (I would be surprised if more than a handful of users even knows about linked/individual pan and zoom).
Feel free to post a feature request so we can see if more than a handful of users would be interested in this.

In general, IMatch may not have all features available in other, more specialized, software.

GeoSetter has some very special features. For users who need them, they are indispensable and make GeoSetter much more powerful than the IMatch map panel. But for most users, the IMatch map panel is all they need. I suppose that its the same with the functionality you have found in FastStone Image Viewer. Or RawViewer. Or FastPictureViewer.

Doing high-zoom pixel-by-pixel comparisons between multiple images is something you usually do in your RAW processor or image editor, during initial culling.
Not necessarily something that you do in your DAM later.

As always, I might be wrong. Write a feature request and we'll see what other users think. I'm always interested in making IMatch better for the majority of users. I don't necessarily try to copy or emulate all features available in specialized software, though.

[bonsai]

@lbo
I'm absolutely with you, I'm using FSIV since years on a daily base.
The feature to compare images is brilliant.
You can open your images from IMatch with ctrl/enter if you register your image formats with FSIV in Windows.
To display, examine and culling FSIV is unbeatable.

[lbo]

It assume it is no problem to open images in FastStone directly from IMatch by pressing Ctrl+Enter or via a Favorite. So you have the best of both worlds already.

Of course (I already wrote this in the OP). There are drawbacks, though: I can't pass a selection of images to FSIV (just one image or a directory), and porting back the information about the "best" image to IMatch is somewhat error-prone.

If you ever consider to improve the IMatch viewer, I suggest to have a deeper look at FSIV first.

GeoSetter has some very special features. For users who need them, they are indispensable and make GeoSetter much more powerful than the IMatch map panel.

since you mention this repeatedly: Which are the special features available in GeoSetter but not in the IMatch map panel?

IMO the IMatch map panel is the best tool available.

Oliver

[lbo]

I'm absolutely with you, I'm using FSIV since years on a daily base.
The feature to compare images is brilliant.

That's it! One of the first programs to be installed on a new PC.

I wonder why FSIV is not as well known as IrfanView or XnView. Top rank in magazine articles is IrfanView, XnView next. FastStone often isn't even listed!

The implementation of the screen magnifier is also great, although some users find the mouse movement reversed until the understand that they move a magnifying glass over the image.

[Mario]

since you mention this repeatedly: Which are the special features available in GeoSetter but not in the IMatch map panel?
IMO the IMatch map panel is the best tool available.

You have to ask the more specialized users about that. I'm no GeoSetter or GPS specialist myself.
I've just designed the Map Panel to deliver what users asked for or what seemed useful to me, for typical photographic workflows.
And doing that for OSM, Bing and Google, to give my users a choice.